National Dog Day

I woke up to the internet telling me today was National Dog Day so I thought I'd share some pictures of dogs, specifically my dog, Rufus:

Rufus in the Snow

I know I've been neglecting this blog for a month or more and there's no one to blame but myself. Not only have I been very busy, but I've also had, and recovered from, a cold as well as ending up on some sort of weird sleep cycle where I'm tired all day, sleeping all night and tired again the next day.

To be honest, I think it's the cold that upset my sleep cycle. Last night seemed to be the first night in weeks where I slept through the entire night and woke up feeling refreshed.

Anywho, about a week ago it snowed in Denver (again). I mean, it's winter and snow isn't uncommon during this time of year. Naturally, I took Rufus to the dog park. He loves the snow and has a blast running around in the icy cold goodness. I think he agrees with the cooler weather and the snow just makes everything smell new and wonderful. Could you imaging being a dog? Science says they're sense of smell is hundreds or thousands of times more sensitive than a human being's olfactory senses. Imagine always being bombarded with hundreds of scents, many outside the scope of what a human can detect, and when the snow settles down, all those scents are gone. Just gone. It's a brand new world.

Rufus loves it and as a good dog owner, I take him out and let him romp in the snow.

So, here's a couple of images of Rufus at the dog park the other day with the snow coming down around us. Luckily, the Pentax K5 can work unhindered in colder weather than it's Nikon and Canon counterparts.

Rufus Hates Posing

Rufus in the Snow

Walking On Water

While out at the Sand Dunes in November I was able to capture this image of a man pointing his camera at the setting sun. The image was a last minute one that I hadn't planned on shooting, but the man's silhouette just sold the scene for me. Instead of merely a darkening sky and the reflections of the creek breaking up the blackened foreground, I have a man enjoying one of the country's great wonders at dusk.

I didn't catch his name, or if I did, I can't recall his name, but I did give him the address to this blog, so perhaps he'll peruse on by one day and see himself the way my camera saw him.

Dusk at the Dunes

Holy Great Sand Dunes, Batman!

Between computer problems and just plain laziness (oh, and some part-time work) I haven't been updating this blog very much. It's sad, really -- I haven't even been updating from mobile with mobile shots. Of course, in my defense, I haven't been been uploading to Streamzoo, Google+ or anywhere else from mobile, either. For some reason I just haven't been able to capture a good picture with my Note II, even with the assistance of Snapseed.

However, I have taken pictures. I wish I could say hundreds, nay, thousands of images, but I haven't been that active with the camera recently. A couple of weeks ago I did go to The Great Sand Dunes National Monument and while I captured a few good images, nothing spectacular crossed my lens. What stopped me from getting a great shot? No clouds or color to the sky other than blue; footprints in the sand marring any sense of natural wonder and my dog. Yes, I said 'my dog.'

How does Rufus prevent me from taking great shots? Simple, I had a leash in one hand and a camera in the other -- there was no room for carrying a tripod. That means as the sun inched closer to the horizon my ISO had to steadily creep higher until the images were grainy, even after converting to jpg.

Anywho, here's a picture. You came here to see pictures, right?

Arrakis

I [Heart] Brains

Zombie Girl with a Flower

There's a not-so secret in Denver, Colorado. Every year, for one day only, a feral outbreak hits the city, spreading a plague of the undead across the Mile High City, specifically along the 16th Street Mall and Skyline Park. For eight years now, the EyeHeartBrains.com zombie crawl has traversed the core of downtown Denver, bringing record breaking numbers of zombies to the city and leaving blood and bloody carcasses in it's wake.

Zombies of all shapes and sizes, ages and backgrounds crawled along the walking outdoor mall and where there are zombies there are zombie hunters, survivalists and, yes, looky-loos. I, once again, was one of those looky-loos. Camera in hand -- this is a photography blog after all -- I buttoned up my courage and drove downtown to the heart of the outbreak. As it turns out, there's a zombie for just about everything: zombie Star Wars characters, zombie Jesus', zombie fishermen and a plethora of zombie nurses.


 Below are a handful of zombie pictures, some of my favorites from the day and then a link to some more. Enjoy!

What do zombies need more than a Brainz-on-a-Stick Vendor?

A Big Zombie with Hot Pink Hair

Obligatory Zombie Nurse and one of my personal favorite shots of the day

Always Carry (Zombie) Protection

Click the Above Image for the Full Album

Fall in Colorado

As the saying goes, there's gold in them thar hills and last week I had a chance to grab a  few shots of the changing leaves. Years ago, I used to head into the mountains regularly, at least a few times a month, but when gas prices started becoming ridiculously high and employment started becoming ridiculously scarce, spending $60 just to drive into the mountains became a luxury, not a necessity. Let me be clear, $60 doesn't fill my 28 gallon gas tank, it merely provides enough gas for me to drive up and drive back and doesn't include any food I might purchase, lift tickets or overnight stays, etc.

Beer City Mountain

A year ago I took the motorcycle with me, thus reducing the overhead costs significantly, but I couldn't bring along my tripod or dogs, so this year I decided to take my truck, improving my capacity to bring long canine companions, extra gear, food and drinks. Normally, I'd ask to borrow a friend's extra car, since it gets roughly 25 miles to the gallon while my truck peaks out at 15mpg, downhill, with a tailwind. However, the car wasn't being very reliable and I was left with no choice but to take my gas-guzzling behemoth.

My first thought was to go for a short hike on a trail I know barely an hour outside of Denver, but after stopping to take a picture and sinking nearly up to my knees in some mud, I decided to forego being on my feet all day and just drive around.

Without a plan of action now, I headed up Guanella Pass near Georgetown, CO. to see what there was to see. And it was great. Aside from all the brown of leaves already gone, there were whole patches of vivid yellows against backdrops of deep greens.

I grabbed a few pictures before heading up higher and higher, essentially rising above tree line and arriving at the highest point of the pass: the Mt. Bierstadt peak viewing lot. With dogs in tow, I exited the vehicle, grabbed my tripod (even though it wasn't needed on a bright sunshiny day) and set out walking just to grab a few shots before moving further along the pass and then on to Kenosha Pass. However, I soon became distracted and kept wanting to move forward to take another picture and then another picture and then another picture and so forth. The next thing I know, the dogs and I were miles from the truck and we turned to head back before it became too cold.

On the way back down the mountain pass I pulled over at a scenic viewing location only to find a trail system majestically covered by aspens. I was very shocked and awed when I saw this trail leading off away from the parking area and will eagerly go back again in the future perhaps next fall, perhaps in the spring and perhaps this winter after it snows.

Anywho, here's one of my favorite shots from that unexpected jaunt:

Green, Gold and a Yellow Road

Canon City, CO and Thereabouts

A few months ago I went to Canon City, CO to go camping in the area with a friend. Naturally, I grabbed my dSLR and brought it along, but unfortunately there were more days of bad light than good light. What's "bad light" you might ask? Well, Timmy, "bad light" is flat and boring. 

Fortunately, though, I was able to grab a couple of decent images, even more fortunate are the others I was able to save with some creative editing.

Click Collage to go to Album

My friend had plans our first day in the area and I was left to my own devices. I took the truck and the dogs up into them thar hills and lucked across this old GMC sitting in someone's front yard. I pulled over and snapped a couple of shots quickly before jumping back into the Explorer and moving on. 

One our way back to the campsite from the city my friend suggested taking this very short very scenic route along some sort of ridge. The top might have been three car lanes wide, leaving only one lane's width for people to actually travel upon: Youtube video (NOT MINE). 

I love geology and even thought about studying it in college, so when I see these sorts of layers in the rock I become a little excited. 

Also up there are the underside of some donosaur footprints. You don't see the impression in the the rock, what you see are the underside which looks like a bunch of rock-bubbles clinging on. It's very surreal, especially at this height, reminding us that this wasn't always a ridge and some animals traversed here regularly.

While at the top, I pointed the camera back out towards the valley and snapped a surprisingly good image of the road winding it's way westward.

The day we left was the worst day, by far, weather-wise. It had rained all night and off and on throughout the day. We wanted to see the world famous Royal Gorge suspension bridge before leaving but as luck would have it, the earlier Colorado wildfires ravaged the area and the bridge was closed to visitors. Instead, we hiked up a small trail where we could see the bridge from afar.

Fire in the Sky

I went out to catch something completely different from this, but once I saw the rays of light shooting up under the dark clouds, I couldn't help but turn the camera towards the mountains.

That darker straight line is the Cherry Creek Dam and those mountains are more than 30 miles away.

Where the dam meets the water, off to the left of the image, is the Cherry Creek marina and if you zoom into the image you can see the boats floating there as they spend another night tethered to the piers.

I really wish I would have known the sunset was going to be this magnificent as I would have sought out a better view. As it was, this was a happy accident. My only wish was the dam wasn't in the image. However, the walk back to the truck plus drive time, would not have given me enough time to catch this with the rays shooting up and out like they are and that made all the difference between this sunset and hundreds of others.

Sunset on the Lake

Took the dSLR out to the lake today and grabbed some sunset shots. These are the Android pictures I took with my Note II and edited with Snapseed.

Hopefully sooner or later I'll get the pics off the Pentax and edit them for sharing too.

Cheeseman Park, Denver, CO

Click for Album

A couple of weeks ago I took Rufus (my dog) down to a park here in Denver. It's a park I've only been to a handful of times in my more than a decade living in Denver. Not that it's a bad park, it's just not that close to me and I have to pass by a dozen other parks to get to this particular one.

In my spare time, I'm trying to write a novel. My protagonist lives near this park and I needed to know more about it, so I grabbed my camera and walked around, taking pictures of the park, the area around it and Rufus. Why? Because I'm a photographer in my own mind and we always take our cameras with us.

The light on this particular day was great, diffused by the clouds perfectly. A lot of the images I took were just pictures of the area so I didn't have to rush down there every time my character walked through the park, but I did get a handful I don't feel too bad sharing.

You can click on the collage above or the slideshow below for all the images from that morning.

Denver Botanic Gardens Lights 12-24-2012

On December 24th, 2012, for the second time since moving to Colorado I went to the Denver Botanic Gardens for their Blossoms of Lights event. The first time, with an ex-girlfriend, happened a few years ago and neither of us brought a camera. To be honest, she wasn't entirely thrilled with my desire to photograph my life and I carried the camera (my trusty Pentax *IST DS) rarely.

This time, however, I went for their Blossoms of Lights showcase alone, with the specific intent to bring my camera and tripod, so I could take my time and work on my schedule, not having to worry about someone else's concerns. I chose Christmas Eve thinking most people would be home with the families, preparing for the December 25th festivities. 

I was wrong.

Apparently, December 25 is a very busy evening for the Gardens. I was surprised at the number of people there and getting shots without  people turned out to be very difficult. 

With the overcast skies and the lights from the city of Denver bouncing back down, the sky really was that off-tungsten color instead of night or with dusk colors.

Indian River in Brevard County

Just a little something from last week. This is from Indiatlantic, FL looking west over the Indian River in Brevard County, FL.

Took the K5 Out

Finally had a chance to take the K5 out for a few shot this morning. Wow. Compared to my *IstDS it is amazing. Sort of like a Ferrari compared to a 1977 Ford Bronco. Here are some images from today. None of them are special, I was just practicing with the knobs and buttons.

First Image

First image with the new K5. Yes, this is my dog, Rufus. He is a very unwilling model so I had to stuff his Kong with elk meat. This image is SOOC (straight out of the camera). In other words, no post processing, no cropping, no nothing at all. I know, it's not a great image, but I wanted to use the camera!

Dammit! Still Waiting...

Been charging the battery for a few hours now. Argh! This is not fast enough! I want to play with my new K5! Reading a manual can only do so much.

That's one benefit of the *Ist DS over any of the more modern cameras: AA. No, not Alcoholic's Anonymous, but rather AA batteries. Since the DS runs on AA's, no matter if my rechargeable's were charged or not, I could always throw some new batteries in for instant access to the camera. Now I have to wait. Sure, in my bundle that I bought I received a couple of spare batteries (2, in fact, for a total of 3) but they all need to be charged. And yes, I checked: I cannot toss AAs in the battery compartment which would have been nice.

I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow for taking the first images. Argh!

Who's not a happy camper right now? I'm not a happy camper right now!

Arrival!

Arrival of the K5 was as simple as opening the door to the UPS man. I unpacked the box (the deal I got had a lot of extras)  and while the battery is charging, I am reading the manual. About 350 pages! I've read novels with less pages! This camera has many many many more features and options than my poor *Ist DS does. The the DS has very basic features, nearly the same as one would find on a film SLR camera. The K5 seems to have so many more options! I better not lose the manual.

Waiting sucks

Twelve days ago I bought a Pentax K5 (online) to replace my Pentax *Ist DS that I've owned since 2006. According to Amazon.com my order was shipped on November 10, however it didn't start UPS tracking until six days later with "Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit." 


Grrr!


And they gave themselves a week window for deliver with today being the last day of that week. As of this morning, it is out for delivery:


November 22, 2011 04:48:00 AM Commerce City CO US Out for delivery


Here it is, 11 hours later and nothing. Nothing! I don't want to leave the house (much to the dismay of my dog) in case I miss the UPS guy. I'm not sure if he'll leave it on the porch or if he'll leave a note saying "sorry we missed you." 

It needs to hurry up and get here! I'm losing light, dammit!